


Out in the Open

by commanderlurker (honeybee592)



Series: Cats, the V is silent [2]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 12:09:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16367534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeybee592/pseuds/commanderlurker
Summary: Akaavi makes some unappreciated observations about her new crew. Or, “This is the dumbest love triangle ever.”





	Out in the Open

The crew are all in the mess, hanging out drinking and eating. Nothing fancy. Just what they had in stock. They’re gonna fly out of Balmorra real soon. Not soon enough, as far as Cats is concerned. She’s a smuggler, not an infiltrator. Her blasters have seen way too much action on this shitty planet.

She watches the crew as she chews. Corso’s shuffling cards, about to start a round with Bowdaar. They’re having a spirited argument about the rules. Risha’s next to Cats, with a datapad in one hand and a fork in the other. Cats has tried to look over at what she’s reading but she can’t tell. Probably something boring and sensible. Akaavi eats in silence, slowly, eyeing everyone. She’s been on board for close to six days now, grieving or something. Corso’s been the one to do the settling in while Cats and Risha have been cleaning up Republic messes.

But they’re all on board now, and ready to leave. Just waiting on a new bunk to be delivered and then they’re off. A new bunk. Crazy, right? For a long time, Cats had the whole bunk cabin to herself, but now she has an actual crew to share the space with…

“Captain Cats. Why must we get a new bunk? The captain’s cabin goes disused. I thought you and Risha would sleep there, but you do not.” Akaavi puts down her fork and stares at Cats.

Cats chokes on her dinner. Risha look up. Bowdaar and Corso’s argument stops immediately.

“Um, sorry?” Cats asks.

“You and Risha. You are lovers, yes?”

Cats’ face burns hotter than a blaster bolt. She glances at Risha. She’s smiling. At Cats. Like she knows something Cats doesn’t.

“Um, we’re not, uh, we’re not… lovers.” Cats manages.

“No? Then why do you behave as if you are?” Akaavi: asking the hard questions.

 _Because I love Risha_. “Um…”

“And Corso, is he not your lover too?”

“ _What_?” Cats jerks her head up and makes eye contact with a very sad looking Corso. Puppy eyes. No, worse. He looks like a kicked puppy. “We’re not lovers either! No one is loving anyone on this ship!”

Silence descends. No more follow up questions from Interrogator Akaavi. Only the clicks and pings and hums of the ship.

Then Bowdaar laughs. At least, Cats thinks it’s a laugh. Sounds more like a wookie trapped in a trash compactor, but based on previous games of sabacc, she’s pretty sure that’s a laugh. “You!” he bellows. “Lovers!” He slaps the table. “I wish!”

Corso shuffles the cards, then stands. “‘Scuse me,” he mutters, then leaves, head down, not looking at Cats, not looking at anyone.

Bowdaar settles. He’s wiping tears from his eyes. Cats is about to space him.

Akaavi shifts in her seat. “I...I have said something inappropriate.”

“The hell you have!” Cats shouts. “Where do you get off asking questions like that? I let you on this ship out of the kindness of my heart--”

“Captain,” Risha says, calm. She puts her hand on Cats’ arm. Cats stops yelling. She looks into those dark, beautiful eyes. Eyes she’s stared at for the better part of a year now. She clamps her jaw shut and grinds her teeth. Risha turns to Akaavi. “Cats and I aren’t lovers, though you could be mistaken for thinking so. The Captain has made her feelings clear. As for Corso, his love is sadly misplaced. As for the captain’s cabin, that is reserved for Cats’ parents.”

What? Cats has _never_ declared her love to Risha. Not out loud at least. Maybe she said something when she was drunk… And what was that about Corso’s love being misplaced? Does he--oh. Oh, oh no. He can’t--for how long? While Risha explains Cats’ family’s smuggling business to Akaavi, Cats’ head swims as her brain helpfully replays every conversation she and Corso have ever had. It’s obvious now. As obvious as a kick to the nuts. Even worse though is that Risha knows that Cats loves her. “I need to go,” she says, scrambling towards the door and past her parents’ empty cabin towards the crew cabin. She dims the lights and curls up on her bunk, burning with embarrassment.

*

Cats is throwing a ball against the bulkhead when a knock at the door comes an hour later. Risha’s voice comes through the holoterminal. Cats lets her in. Risha catches the ball mid air and walks over.

“Mind if I sit?” she asks.

“Sure,” Cats says in a way that clearly means the opposite of what she says.

“I owe you an apology. I should have said something earlier, nipped it in the bud. But honestly, I enjoyed your infatuation. Many people have claimed to love me, but you’re the real deal.”

“Was I that obvious?” Cats asks.

Risha laughs. “You couldn’t be more obvious than a neon holo sign in Nar Shaddaa.”

Cats’ face burns again.

Silence. Maybe Cats should say something, or maybe Risha should. No, Risha definitely should. She’s the one who came in here. First and only time she’s sat on Cats’ bunk and they aren’t even kissing. But there’s still timel.

“Is this the part where you confess your undying love for me and tear your shirt open and we make out?” Cats asks.

Risha’s half smile of refusal is painfully dazzling. “Sounds like someone’s been reading too many trashy novels.” She pauses, looks at her hands. “I’m not one to be open with my feelings. Trusting you with my treasure hunt was a gamble, and one that paid off. I got my crown back, but just as important, I got you, a friend. The only friend I’ve ever had.” Risha reaches out and takes Cats’ hand. “I will follow where you lead, Captain Cats-the-V-is-silent, but I can’t follow you to your bed. I’m sorry.”

Cats huffs and squeezes Risha’s hand. Well, that’s that. A year and a half of hopeless pining and expensive gifts and--Cats isn’t the only one who’s been giving people gifts. “Corso… How long…”

Risha laughs. “That man was in love with you before I ever stepped foot on this ship. Or, before you stepped foot on your ship again, I should say.”

Cats grimaces. “I didn’t know.”

“He looks at you the way you look at me.”

“I thought he was just being nice, you know? He’s a nice guy! Little overprotective maybe, little obsessed with his blasters, but I like him. He’s saved my life, more than once. But he’s…” Cats flounders.

“You see him as a brother.”

“Exactly.”

They sit on the bunk together, quietly. Cats relives every embarrassing thing she’s ever done, every regret she’s ever had, every chance she missed. She’s never had more self-loathing than right now. But she’s not a teenager anymore. She can’t just up and leave this mess. She’s an adult, a captain, and she has a duty to her crew.

She runs her hand over her face and makes a sound like a dying wookie. “This is the dumbest love triangle ever.”

“Agreed.”

“I’m never going to live this down.”

“I’ll make sure of it.”

“I should go talk to Corso.”

“You should.”

Cats leaves Risha and wanders through the ship, looking for Corso, part of her still holding out hope that by the time she gets back from shooting Corso down, Risha will be still be on Cats’ bunk, naked, maybe with a rose between her teeth. She sighs. Gonna take awhile for this burn to heal.

Corso’s in the armoury, furiously cleaning a blaster. Not one that Cats has seen before.

“Hey Corso,” Cats says as casual as possible. “How’s it hanging?”

Corso’s jaw works. “If you’ve come to make fun of me, then--then you’ve picked the wrong time.” He doesn’t even look at her.

Cats heart sinks. “I’m not here to make fun of you. I’m here to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine.”

“Right.”

Corso slams the blaster on the bench and glares at Cats. “What do you want me to say? That it’s all a big misunderstanding and I haven’t been in love with you since you first stared down Skavak and promised you’d kill him? That I haven’t been wondering about how to ask your parents if I could court you? That I haven’t been working out the best time to give you this stupid blaster that I refurbished from Vidu’s compound?”

There are tears in his eyes. Cats looks away.

“I love you, Cats.” He pushes the words out like they’re splinters. “And you didn’t even know.” He sniffs and wipes his nose. “More fool me.”

Cats stares at the workbench, at the bits of blaster scattered about, at the tools and grease and solder. She should say something. She can’t think of anything.

“When’s the wedding?” Corso asks.

“What?” She jerks up.

“The wedding. You and Risha.”

Cats sighs. “Turns out you’re not the only fool.”

Corso laughs. It’s more of a bark, but Cats is taking it. “How did I not see? It’s obvious, now that I think about it. You’re always giving her gemstones and engine holos, and that really nice cloak, and always buying her drinks when we go out...”

“You were going to ask my parents if you could take me out?” Cats asks, changing the topic to deflect from her own embarrassment at just how much she’s spent trying to buy Risha’s love.

“Yeah, of course. Call me old fashioned, but I would never disrespect my lady’s parents.”

“I don’t think--” Cats rubs her face. “Doesn’t matter. All that matters now is--I don’t know.”

There’s another one of those awkward silences. It drags on.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” Corso says.

“You got nothing to be sorry about, Corso. It’s me who should be apologising. I’m sorry. For everything. I’m sorry I took that stupid blaster shipment to Vidu. I’m sorry that I was dumb enough to have my ship stolen. I’m sorry it took so long to kill that bastard Skavak. But I’m not sorry I met you. And Risha. And Bowdaar.” Her lips twist. “Jury’s still out on Akaavi. But you and the others? You’re the only crew I’ve ever had. You’re my family away from family, and I wouldn’t trade that, not for anything, not for Nok Drayen’s treasures.”

They stand there for a moment, not looking at each other. Cats feels hollow and empty. She can’t imagine what Corso must be feeling.

Corso starts working on the blaster again. It’s nice. Looks like new. All sleek silver with blue accents. The blaster core shines purple. She’s got to hand it to him, Corso’s great with blasters. She could learn a thing or two from the way he treats his blasters.

“What’s her name?” Cats asks.

“Boomer.”

“Nice.”

“It shoots purple blasts. I know how much you like purple. You still want it?”

“You still want to give it to me? After all this?”

Corso smiles a small, sad smile. “Keeping it would only remind me how stupid I am.”

Cats grins. “You may be a farm boy, but you’re not stupid.”

“And you might be dangerously impulsive, but you’re a good captain.”

They look at each other, rueful, hopeless.

“You not gonna make Akaavi sleep in the airlock, are you?” Corso asks.

Cats sighs, long. “Believe me, I’d love to, but I’ve just bought these new bunks…” The joke falls flat.

Corso nudges her arm. “Hey, we’re gonna be okay, Cats. It’ll take a while for the sting to ease, but we’re gonna be okay.”

Cats nods. Yeah, he’s right. They’ll be okay.


End file.
